Match Statistics - 2018 - Phase I

2018 APPIC Match Statistics - Phase I

Match Report from the APPIC Board of Directors

February 23, 2018

We are pleased to report that 3,163 applicants were successfully matched to internship positions in Phase I of the 2018 APPIC Match. More than half (51%) of all applicants who obtained a position matched to their first choice internship program, nearly three-quarters (73%) received one of their top two choices, and about six-in-seven (85%) received one of their top three choices.

A total of 432 applicants were not matched to an internship position in Phase I, while 184 applicants withdrew or did not submit a Rank Order List.

For the first time, there were fewer registered applicants (3779, down 142 or 3.6% from 2017) than the number of internship positions offered (3906, up 57 or 1.5%). The decrease in applicants was likely related to the stricter Match eligibility requirements that were implemented this year, which reduced the number of doctoral programs whose students were eligible to participate in the Match.

2017 MATCH

2018 MATCH

Participating Doctoral Programs:

452

420

Accredited

404

412

Non-Accredited

48

8

Registered Applicants:

3,921

3,779

From Accredited Programs

3,675

3,727

From Non-Accredited Programs

246

52

A total of 743 positions remained unfilled. There were 294 internship sites (37%) that had at least one unfilled position. This includes 28% of accredited sites (174 of 622) and 72% of non-accredited sites (120 of 166).

The historical shortage of accredited internship positions improved again this year; compared to 2017, the number of accredited positions increased by 214 (6.8%) to 3,383, while the number of non-accredited positions decreased by 157 (23.1%) to 523. Despite this improvement, the number of registered applicants still exceeded the number of accredited positions by 396 (compared to a difference of 752 last year and 1,020 in 2016).

The 2012 APPIC Match was the point of the worst imbalance between applicants and positions since the Match began in 1999. Here is a comparison of the 2012 and 2018 APPIC Matches (Phase I only):

2012 MATCH

2018 MATCH

6-YEAR CHANGE

Applicants:

Registered for the Match

4,435

3,779

-656 (-15%)

Withdrew or did not submit ranks

426

184

-242 (-57%)

Matched

2,968

3,163

+195 (+7%)

Unmatched

1,041

432

-609 (-59%)

Positions:

Offered in the Match

3,190

3,906

+716 (+22%)

Filled

2,968

3,163

+195 (+7%)

Unfilled

222

743

+521 (+235%)

Accredited (APA or CPA)

2,361

3,383

+1,022 (+43%)

Non-Accredited

829

523

-306 (-37%)

Number of registered applicants exceeded number of positions by (negative number in 2018 denotes positions exceeded applicants):

1,245

-127

-1,372

Number of registered applicants exceeded number of accredited positions by:

APPLICANTS

Applicants Participating in the Match(includes 34 individuals who participated in the Match as 17 "couples")

3,595

APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED IN PHASE I

Number of Applicants Who Submitted Applications in Phase I

3,710

Total Number of Applications Submitted in Phase I

56,970

Average Number of Applications Submitted by Applicants in Phase I (SD = 5.0)

15.4

Median Number of Applications Submitted in Phase I

15

Range of Applications Submitted in Phase I

1 - 42

NOTE: For comparison purposes, applicants submitted an average of 16.3 applications in 2013, 15.9 in 2014, 15.8 in 2015, 15.8 in 2016, and 15.2 in 2017.

MATCH RESULTS IN PHASE I

Applicants Matched

3,163

88%

Participating Applicants Not Matched

432

12%

MATCH RESULTS BY RANK NUMBER ON APPLICANT'S LIST(Percentages may not total to 100 due to rounding errors)

Rank

Number of Applicants

1

1,616

51%

2

687

22%

3

398

13%

4

192

6%

5

107

3%

6

65

2%

7

43

1%

8

19

1%

9

14

0%

10 or higher

22

1%

TOTAL

3,163

100%

RANKINGS IN PHASE I

Average Number of Rankings Submitted Per Applicant:

Matched Applicants

8.0

Unmatched Applicants

3.3

Overall

7.4

Each Position Was Ranked by an Average of 6.8 Applicants.

INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS

PARTICIPATION IN PHASE I

Training Sites Participating in the Match

788

Programs Participating in the Match

1,476

Positions Offered in the Match

3,906

NOTE: A "training site" can offer more than one "program" in the Match. Each "program" was identified in the Match by a separate 6-digit code number.

APPLICATIONS RECEIVED IN PHASE I

Sites Receiving Applications in Phase I

791

Total Number of Applications Received in Phase I

56,970

Average Number of Applications Received in Phase I (SD = 62.7)

72.0

Median Number of Applications Received in Phase I

59

Range of Applications Received in Phase I

1 - 395

NOTE: For comparison purposes, sites received an average of 97.9 applications in 2013, 89.8 in 2014, 84.9 in 2015, 79.1 in 2016, and 74.2 in 2017.

MATCH RESULTS IN PHASE I

Positions:

Filled in the Match

3,163

81%

Remaining Unfilled

743

19%

Programs:

Filled in the Match

1,077

73%

With Unfilled Positions

399

27%

NOTE: 55 programs at 49 sites submitted fewer ranks than the number of positions available. As a result, no ranks were submitted for 108 positions, which remained unfilled.

APA- OR CPA- ACCREDITED POSITIONS

Filled in the Match

2,926

86%

Remaining Unfilled

457

14%

TOTAL

3,383

NON-ACCREDITED POSITIONS

Filled in the Match

237

45%

Remaining Unfilled

286

55%

TOTAL

523

Non-accredited positions represented 13.4% of all positions but 38.5% of unfilled positions.

RANKINGS IN PHASE I

Average Number of Applicants Ranked Per Position Offered for Each Program:

Programs Filling All Positions

8.4

Programs With Unfilled Positions

4.1

All Programs

7.2

Each Registered Applicant Was Ranked by an Average of 6.5 Different Programs.

DOCTORAL PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AND RESULTS

SUMMARY OF PARTICIPATING DOCTORAL PROGRAMS

PROGRAM TYPE

DEGREE SOUGHT

NUMBER OF DOCTORAL PROGRAMS

NUMBER OF REGISTERED APPLICANTS

Accredited

Non-Accred.

Totals

Accredited

Non-Accred.

Totals

Clinical

Ph.D.

194

1

195

1,424

3

1,427

Psy.D.

67

5

72

1,489

38

1,527

Ed.D.

0

0

0

0

0

0

TOTALS

261

6

267

2,913

41

2,954

Counseling

Ph.D.

69

0

69

400

0

400

Psy.D.

8

1

9

72

9

81

Ed.D.

0

0

0

0

0

0

TOTALS

77

1

78

472

9

481

School

Ph.D.

55

0

55

197

0

197

Psy.D.

6

1

7

30

2

32

Ed.D.

0

0

0

0

0

0

TOTALS

61

1

62

227

2

229

Combined

Ph.D.

9

0

9

63

0

63

Psy.D.

4

0

4

52

0

52

Ed.D.

0

0

0

0

0

0

TOTALS

13

0

13

115

0

115

ALL PROGRAMS

Ph.D.

327

1

328

2,084

3

2,087

Psy.D.

85

7

92

1,643

49

1,692

Ed.D.

0

0

0

0

0

0

TOTALS

412

8

420

3,727

52

3,779

APPLICANT RESULTS BY DOCTORAL PROGRAM TYPE AND DEGREE

PROGRAM TYPE

DEGREE SOUGHT

MATCHED

UNMATCHED

WITHDREW OR NO RANKINGS SUBMITTED

TOTAL

Clinical

Ph.D.

1,231

86.3%

144

10.1%

52

3.6%

1,427

Psy.D.

1,224

80.2%

220

14.4%

83

5.4%

1,527

TOTALS

2,455

83.1%

364

12.3%

135

4.6%

2,954

Counseling

Ph.D.

360

90.0%

26

6.5%

14

3.5%

400

Psy.D.

59

72.8%

12

14.8%

10

12.3%

81

TOTALS

419

87.1%

38

7.9%

24

5.0%

481

School

Ph.D.

163

82.7%

15

7.6%

19

9.6%

197

Psy.D.

21

65.6%

8

25.0%

3

9.4%

32

TOTALS

184

80.3%

23

10.0%

22

9.6%

229

Combined

Ph.D.

56

88.9%

5

7.9%

2

3.2%

63

Psy.D.

49

94.2%

2

3.8%

1

1.9%

52

TOTALS

105

91.3%

7

6.1%

3

2.6%

115

ALL PROGRAMS

Ph.D.

1,810

86.7%

190

9.1%

87

4.2%

2,087

Psy.D.

1,353

80.0%

242

14.3%

97

5.7%

1,692

TOTALS

3,163

83.7%

432

11.4%

184

4.9%

3,779

MATCHED APPLICANTS BY ACCREDITATION STATUS OF INTERNSHIP AND DOCTORAL PROGRAMS

DOCTORAL PROGRAM ACCREDITATION STATUS

MATCHED TO ACCREDITED INTERNSHIP

MATCHED TO NON-ACCREDITED INTERNSHIP

TOTAL

Accredited

2,904

92.6%

231

7.4%

3,135

Non-Accredited

22

78.6%

6

21.4%

28

ALL PROGRAMS

2,926

92.5%

237

7.5%

3,163

MATCHED APPLICANTS BY ACCREDITATION STATUS OF INTERNSHIP PROGRAMAND DOCTORAL PROGRAM TYPE AND DEGREE

PROGRAM TYPE

DEGREE SOUGHT

MATCHED TO ACCREDITED INTERNSHIP

MATCHED TO NON-ACCREDITED INTERNSHIP

TOTAL

Clinical

Ph.D.

1,199

97.4%

32

2.6%

1,231

Psy.D.

1,094

89.4%

130

10.6%

1,224

TOTALS

2,293

93.4%

162

6.6%

2,455

Counseling

Ph.D.

350

97.2%

10

2.8%

360

Psy.D.

39

66.1%

20

33.9%

59

TOTALS

389

92.8%

30

7.2%

419

School

Ph.D.

138

84.7%

25

15.3%

163

Psy.D.

11

52.4%

10

47.6%

21

TOTALS

149

81.0%

35

19.0%

184

Combined

Ph.D.

51

91.1%

5

8.9%

56

Psy.D.

44

89.8%

5

10.2%

49

TOTALS

95

90.5%

10

9.5%

105

ALL PROGRAMS

Ph.D.

1,738

96.0%

72

4.0%

1,810

Psy.D.

1,188

87.8%

165

12.2%

1,353

TOTALS

2,926

92.5%

237

7.5%

3,163

SUMMARY OF PROGRAM RANKINGS

The following report contains additional statistics on how successful programs were, on average, in matching with applicants during Phase I of the APPIC Match.

There are several important issues that must be considered in attempting to analyze program success based on the rank numbers of matched applicants.

DEFINITIONAL PROBLEMS: Because each applicant submitted a single Rank Order List in order to match to a single position, it is easy to identify his or her "first choice," "second choice," etc. However, for an internship program, determining first or second choice applicants is a far more difficult and complex task. First, many programs attempt to fill several positions; if a program has three positions to fill, an applicant ranked third by that program can in effect be considered a "first choice" for purposes of the Match. Furthermore, a significant number of sites submitted multiple Rank Order Lists for a single program, sometimes ranking the same applicant on different Lists with different rank numbers. Also, the reversion of unfilled positions between lists adds a further complication to this analysis.

We worked closely with National Matching Services in an attempt to resolve these difficulties and to develop a reasonable method of presenting this data.

STANDARDIZED RANKINGS: For the purposes of this analysis, we converted each site's rankings to a "standardized rank." This is best explained by example: if the number of positions to be filled from a Rank Order List was three, then the first three applicants on this List were considered to be "first choice" applicants and given a standardized rank of 1. The next three applicants on that List were defined as "second choice" applicants and given a standardized rank of 2. And so on.

PHASE I MATCH RESULTS BYSTANDARDIZED RANK NUMBER ON INTERNSHIP PROGRAM LIST

(Percentages may not total to 100 due to rounding errors)

Standardized Rank

Number of Applicants Matched

1

960

30%

2

748

24%

3

564

18%

4

348

11%

5

218

7%

6

148

5%

7

70

2%

8

42

1%

9

21

1%

10 or higher

44

1%

TOTAL

3,163

100%

To interpret this chart: Of all positions that were filled in Phase I of the Match, 30% were filled with "first choice" applicants (as defined above), 24% with "second choice" applicants, and so on.

Furthermore, 54% were filled with "first" or "second" choice applicants, while 72% were filled with "third choice" applicants or better.

Of course, comparing these numbers to applicants' Match statistics should be done with extreme caution, given the significantly different ways in how "first choice", "second choice", etc. were defined in each analysis.